Shadowrun: Knight's Strike

Lurcolm

Resident Biopunk Enthusiast
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
  1. Looking for partners
Posting Speed
  1. One post per day
  2. 1-3 posts per week
  3. One post per week
  4. Slow As Molasses
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
  4. Prestige
  5. Douche
  6. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Primarily Prefer Male
  2. No Preferences
Genres
Fantasy, magical, medieval, scifi, romance and action!

ALL THE -PUNK GENRES
Gizmo didn't much like people, or was it that they didn't much like Gizmo? Admittedly, he wasn't the best of people to get along with, he could admit that, but he's seen a lot of assholes have more friends than he had in his life. Not even when he was nova-hot popular back home, did he achieve the level of popularity of a lot of his coworkers.

Then again, those asshats were SINners. Honest to God wage slaves that had an identity to get back to. He didn't really have that like they did. His identity was regularly purged from Knight Errant's systems whenever his gaunt, pale face came on some investigator's trid feed. Sure, his new digs gave him some better lifestyle choices than his old one didn't -good food and soykaf for one- but he sometimes missed his old life. His simsense deck could testify to that with the sheer amount of gang related sims

He looked down to the drone he was patching up, while Technopunk roared in the background. He was a deniable asset of Knight Errant, and he sure as hell looked the part. Everything he has, he built himself out of scrap parts. His truck, The Mothership, his Scouts, his Wardogs, even his Spiders were all of his own design and manufacture. He liked them for it, even refused to get those fancy drones that Knight Errant could provide. Why the frag would he? He could pilot circles around the dreks they usually hired.

He received a message on his cyberterminal, the algorithm he made one of the deckers worked out causing the music blaring out to stop as the voice message goes through

"Gizmo, it's Johnson. We've got a new job for you, and this time you got a partner. Meet me in my office tomorrow morning, and remember to shave."

Gizmo blinked and idly rubbed the stubble growing on the one side of his face. Mister Johnson didn't much like Gizmo's burn scar on his right cheek, but somehow having facial hair on one side sets the poor fragger completely off. Guess it's just some sort of corp thing.

Letting out a small sigh, he stated: "Reply message: Sure thing, Boss."

Welp. No rest for the SINless.
 
Behind a decrepit building, in an innocuous alley lay the entrance to one of Seattle's infamous Night Clubs, Underworld. So aptly named for it's location inside a long since cut off subway passage. An eclectic establishment for a unique crowd; mainly one that loves to spend money on not terribly legal products and activities. And as of recently the stomping grounds of one fiery haired mage looking for a good time. Through the sounds of Glitchcore and Darksynth, all the way to the VIP Corner where volume was ever so slightly lower making a strained conversation possible sat Ariadne with her feet propped up on the short glass table.

She watched the crowd from a distance tuning out the incessant droning of her companions. Observing the scene through a lens of slight intoxication she watched the bodies slam against each other, she smelled the sweat and alcohol in the air, felt the drumming of bass in her chest and astrally absorbed the cacophony of emotions. The corner of her crimson red lips curled into a smile as she slowly exhaled savouring the moment. The moment when chemicals both natural and synthetic strip away the inhibitions and emotions bottle up sending people into a state of active enjoyment. The bartender was overjoyed over the amounts of tips he got tonight, that lady on stage was exhilarated to be in the center of attention, that Elf in the corner was furious that the Orc seduced his girlfriend. In a moment he will be ashamed to have soiled his pants, but it won't matter.

There was one interesting person at the booth however. A fellow runner who caught on to what was going on early on and had kept silent. The Troll simply smirked at her when she was done enjoying the moment and continued telling her about the time when he convinced a Lonestar rent-a-cop that he was going to eat him alive if he doesn't walk away. Rest of the group however were nothing but cronies, half of them were too drugged out to even realise where they were. Cocktail in hand Ariadne listened on a polite smile across her face until her comm vibrated.

She was practically conditioned to reach for it right away and with a barest 'excuse me' she looked at the screen and smiled ear to ear. Leaning forward from her seat she finished what remained of her drink and stood up politely saying goodbye to any people still capable of any cognitive operation.

"Work's calling, eh hotshot?" The Troll asked with eyebrows raised.
"Nuyen don't grow on trees." Ariadne answered with a chuckle.
"You mages are too arrogant for your own good. There's a reason we always geek you first. Keep your head down kid." Troll added preparing to leave as well.
"Sure thing Tombstone, sure thing." With a wave over her shoulder she departed. At home she headed straight to bed knowing full well how early these corporate androids love to do their business.
 
The next morning, Gizmo was standing in front of the high rise building, in a fragging uncomfortable suit with a tie around his neck. A tie.

The things he did for his money.

He walked carefully into the building, going to the reception and giving the slitch a scowl that would hopefully make her decide against the corporate chitchatter most of these dreks do.

She gave a small "Welcome to Knight Err-"

"Scan the fragging keycard and let me get on the elevator."

All conversation slipped out of her as she scanned the card and let him through. He took the elevator up towards the upper offices, which were literally entire floors dedicated to some prick.

In this case, Gizmo's Johnson was on the twenty sixth floor, and he knew he was late the moment it opened up to show two figures sitting on the desk

"You're late, Gizmo."

"Sorry, Boss. Had to taze a fragger who tried to mug me."

"You told me that last time, Gizmo."

"And I'm fragging telling you that again. That's what happened."
 
"If that keeps happening, you should probably consider moving to a better neighborhood." The figure on his side of the desk spoke up gently inclining her head. Her... Voice alone was unmistakably female and on top of that her hair was tried into a bun held together by twin chopsticks. The woman's voice was calm and elegant, almost melodious, a complete contrast to Gizmo's rough and gruff entrance. She stood from her seat and turned to face him revealing a small nose with slanted bright eyes hauntingly measuring him up. Her plump red lips smiled at him with a mixture of satisfaction and... Desire? Unusual mixture for first introductions. "So you're Gizmo, then?"

She was dressed in a professional looking grey suit, with white shirt and black high heels; Her jacket was folded neatly over the back of the chair and as she turned Gizmo could clearly see she had unbutton an extra button exposing her rosy skin. She crossed her arms further accentuating her bosom and as she took in deep slow breaths she winked at him. "I'll be your partner for a spell. You can call me Ariadne." She licked her lips quickly and turned back to Mr. Johnson. "Now, we can begin proper." She took a seat. "Please, go ahead, Mr. Johnson. We can have our introductions later." She added crossing her legs and gesturing at him to begin.
 
Gizmo wasn't one for talk, subtlety or hiding his emotions, so his response to this new girl was both obvious and clear.

"Well I like my fragging neighbour...hood." He stated as he took in her form, eyes darting to both her expression and... everything else.

"Yeah. Name's Gizmo... I uhh... I'm a rigger, surveillance mostly. A... pleasure."

Mister Johnson smirked at Gizmo's reaction, giving a sly look to her "Careful there, Ariadne. I think he likes you."

"Frag off." He snapped back as he sat down, the small taunt snapping him out of his stupor. Mister Johnson seemed used to the curse as he just continued "As you well know, Knight Errant and Lone Star don't exactly see eye to eye. The job's pretty simple. In a week from now, a riot is going to happen in Tacoma. It'd be terrible if Lone Star failed miserably at their task, so you're going to find out how to do that.
 
Ariadne frowned a bit at the briefing, seemingly unfazed by Gizmo's reaction to her or Johnson's jab at him. This was about as unusual a gig as they come, something unexpected. "If I may," -She spoke up- "But, you should have your armies of Analysts and Lawyers telling the best way to prevent quick mobilization of Lonestar Assets. I sincerely hope you are not asking us to do their job for you and think of a way to lock down the entire city." She uncrossed her arms and joined her fingertips. "Now, if there's something more tangible you require such as information plucked from a certain skull or perhaps otherwise acquirable intel then we could work some angles." She gave Gizmo a quick glance. Surely he would understand that there is something the Johnson isn't telling them. There is always something that Johnsons forget to mention or lie about, this particular job stinks of trouble. Oddly enough the thought got her excited and her heart started pounding. It was small, faint but Gizmo might be able to notice a slight tick in Ariadne's crossed leg as it twitched impatiently ever so slightly.
 
Mister Johnson gave a small shrug "Our Lawyers and Analysts have SINs. You don't. What else am I supposed to say?"

"Maybe about the fact that Tacoma's got a good opinion of Stars?" Gizmo started with a raised eyebrow "The fraggers did a very good job in PR. You can walk around Tacoma dressed as a Star and have a girl suck your jack for free in less than ten minutes."

Johnson raised an eyebrow at the statement "And you know this...how?"

"I know a guy."

"Of course." Johnson stated dryly as he looked at Ariadne, apparently liking her presence more.

"We need dirt. Not old dirt, either. Fresh dirt about Lone Star. I want to see leaked trids of them beating up a trog. Of them abusing their authority."
 
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"Ah, I see, well that should be as simple as lifting the rug to see what was swept underneath." She smiled cockily. "Just the question is, which rug. Oh, there are so many~ So many places to hit~" Her face seemed to take on a slight blush. Her smile widened. "Anything else, Mr. Johnson?" Ariadne stood up looking at him with raised eyebrows like an expectant schoolgirl. She was ready to get to work, to start probing minds and melting faces; This whole month had been dreadfully slow and she wanted something fun to happen desperately. This job seemed like just the thing to get her blood pumping.

Attending parties of both "high" society and urban nightlife kind is always interesting for a time, but before too long they grow stale, boring, uneventful. A mage has to use magic, long periods of rest are tempered by research but even that grows boring in time. She couldn't wait to get on the field with this rigger. She had a good feeling about him too.
 
Gizmo turned around and looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she went so deep into the metaphor, Mister Johnson even finding her a little odd for a bit.

Johnson shook his head at her question "Not much more I can tell you."

Gizmo scowled, then grunted "Not much more relavent to the mission. I'll fill her in on the gang life as we go along."

"Very philanthropic of you, Gizmo."

"I'm bleeding charity."

Gizmo got up and walked away without much hassle, making Johnson smirk as he asked, "Don't you want to know how much you're getting paid?"

"Why bother? You pay us per month and you want me to care about details like waht my job should pay? I don't fragging care."
 
Ariadne chukled playfully, the dynamic between Gizmo and Johnson was a fresh wave from her highly professional interaction with him. True, she did originally try to make him uncomfortable through nothing but sex appeal. Unfortunately it didn't work on him, but it did on most other enployees around which she had since used and abused to the fullest extend. After a curt goodbye to Johnson she followed Gizmo out. Pethaps feigning interest in the payment would have been smarter, but thats the thing about hindsight and the way it works. Om her way out Ariadne waved at the receptionist, the very same one that Gizmo barked at on his way in. "Hey Veronica, if you get lonely with Frank away on a trip give me a ring, won't ya? I might be busy this week but I'll find a way to squeeze you in." She added with a wink and a smile before turning in her high heels and taking off towards the door like she owned the place. The receptionist of course was left blushing terribly and hoping others havent heard about the offer.

Outside Ariadne looked to Gizmo. "Let's go to my place, I got a few things to pick up. I live at the Escala. I take it you brought your own wheels." She looked at him expectantly, waiting and looking a shade less seductive than she was back in the office.
 
Gizmo turned and walked backwards to observe the interaction with unhidden surprise. He seemed practiced in the art of walking backwards as he didn't hit anything when he turned back, still looking at this Ariadne with a sidelong glance.

Going outside proved even more confusing as she just... lost all of that charm in a heartbeat. His eyebrows furowed as he tried to figure this out, staying silent with an open mouth before grunting "Yeah. I have a custom delivery van I use to get around when i'm not doing runs.

The first thing he did when he got out was remove that fragging tie.

"You uhh.." He cleared his throat, then waved the matter off "You stay in Escala? I can't remember where that is. Bellevue?"
 
"Downtown Seattle, the big fancy building. Can't miss it, has a great view of the Needle." She remained mostly silent until they got into the van and then maybe a block away from the building they were in. At that point she took off her heels removed the chop-sticks from her hair letting it fall down messily. She leaned back in her seat and propped her feet up on the dash stretching her toes as much as possible. "God, I hate that place, the sticks up their asses. I don't know if they can taste anything other than wood given how far up they go. An hour at those offices wears me out more than a whole night of dancing and drinking. I swear, that man is an asshole beyond the regular kind, has he EVER given you the right intel, straight answer, anything useful? Of course NOT! The prick! Makes my blood boil." With every shred of elegance now gone and thrown to the wind she truly was an entirely different person. The tone of voice, the tics and quirks, her entire demeanor was completely different. It was like all the snappy remarks that Gizmo made towards the Johnson had festered inside her and came out bubbling now that they were a safe distance away.

"Sorry Gizmo, just a small rant. I'm a Mage by the way, the hermetic kind. I specialize in illusions and mind probing, but I can sling as good as the next guy. I didn't want them digging through my foci so I left them all at home, figured I can pick them up later. We can start planning the job there, I got plenty of extra space." She lowered her feet and crossed her legs. "Speaking of which, any ideas where to start? I have some minor contacts in Tacoma but... They're not in with the Lone Star."
 
Gizmo stared at her for a small moment, his disbelief clear as day as she ranted on about how the Johnson had a stick up his ass -true as it is- and how she was glad she didn't have to be there anymore. He took a moment to actually process her mannerisms before it all finally clicked into place.

She was Facing.

"Yeah... that's fine." He stated as a smirk grew across his face "You forgot to mention you can fragging charm. Holy fragging drek, you had me so uncomfortable! I'm not used to someone like you putting in the charm!" He laughed, then shook his head as he sat at the driver's seat, that evidently didn't have ay manual way of driving it.

"I've got a mic and speakers rigged in, so you can keep talking as I drive."

He put on his seatbelt and plugged the data cord from the truck, into his datajack. His entire body went limp as a speaker started speaking "I have a contact in Tacoma, did the jack sucking trick I talked about, and I don't think he'd be useful on his own, either. I think he knows a guy, though."
 
"I'll believe you on that one. No need for any display of evidence." By this point she was gazing out the window absentmindedly. "Quite fun isn't it? The jobs, I mean. I was very bored until I got the call last night, made me all tingly inside." She reached out to brush a flock of hair from her face. "Oh, and sorry for making you uncomfortable, but that was sort of the point. Anyone can prove they're a mage or a decker or a rigger. You just toss a couple o' sparks, show of your drek-hot Deck or your hot-wheels. But proving you can have the whole room look right at you and see something else. Now that is something you have to see in action in order to believe it." She returned to stretching her feet across the dashboard. "Besides, a mage cannot always count on her spells to get her out of trouble. Sooner or later you mess up and piss off the wrong person; And let me tell ya, people HATE learning you tried to mess with their heads. Lost my first partner that way, chummer tried to magic his way through a troll security chief, got a fist-full of concrete served to go. Spent a week under intensive care then croaked. Kinda miss the bugger, I think he thought he loved me." She paused for brief second. "Let that be a lesson to you Gizmo, never fall in love with... Me? Runners? Maybe just never fall in love, period."

"Anyway, you planning on negotiating with this potential mark or do you wanna work him over to get a location where we can get the data we need. We're gonna need something concrete, I imagine they probably have a PR firm or something regulating their footage and doctoring the reports. If your guy can get us access we could probably find a way to lift something from there. Either get a decker or hope some poor techie is left behind that we can bully into giving us what we want. Broad strokes it sounds simple enough, but, somehow I doubt that is the case." She licked her lips seemed a tad more excited than a runner should at the possibility of their work being harder.

All things considered she was more focused on the job than Gizmo or his gear. Sure enough he was one memorable fella and his van was something to note, but whether it's the excitement of the new job or something else entirely she seemed utterly unconcerned or even disinterested in him, at least for the moment.
 
Gizmo listened and stayed quiet as she talked, and talked some more.

One thing he noticed, was she was a junkie. She was a runner that got off on the simple act of running the shadows. Maybe the money was important to her -she dressed real nice after all- but he concluded that she was in it for the run, rather than the money.

That spooked him.

"Suuure." He stated as she told him not to fall in love in general, but from his tone he wasn't taking it to heart.

"Let's.... just get one thing clear, Chica. We're not out to have fun and get our adrenaline fixes. We're here because Knight Errant wants us to frag up their competitors." He stated with a slow voice as he drove through the streets "So I don't want you doing crazy drek because you like the feeling of getting rained lead behind a secure cover. Got it?"
 
"Oh come off it, you do it for the same reason you just don't wanna admit it. Life's boring without a sense of danger, you grow so accustomed to it that everything else makes you feel like a loaded spring, ready to pop. And besides, you're not Knight Errant, you couldn't care less about what they want. Enjoy yourself Gizmo, you're still alive. You don't wanna end up with a stick like the Johnson." She chuckled teasingly. "I'm no fool, most mages hold their heads up high in the clouds and out of cover, that's how they get shot. But there's also adrenaline from a clever plan or a rouse not just high octane chases and explosions. I told you I focus more on Illusions and other mind manipulative spells didn't I? Do you honestly think I would go screaming into the fire? Well we did just meet, so I'll give you that. You may be here for the cash alone, but I sure as hell don't want to be a leashed dog that hates its existence. If I gave two shits about money I wouldn't be living in a luxury highrise drinking actual coffee every day. No Gizmo, there's only three reasons people run the shadows, They need the money, they love the excitement, they want to prove they're the best. It is the ultimate playground. I thought the act at the Offices should prove to you I can handle my emotions well enough. It seems I was wrong. No matter, I'm used to people underestimating me. But what about you, you've been awfully grumpy and silent for the ride. Come on partner, we have to work together now, tell me about yourself."

They were getting close, a few more turns and they would be there. She gave Gizmo the instructions on how to reach the underground parking garage of the building. At the security booth she leaned towards the guard giving him a wink, smile and a quick compliment all the while making an effort to call him by his name and present some cleavage. The fella didn't even notice the rigger in the driving seat from all the ogling. "Park it close to the elevator."
 
"You wanna know why it do it, Chica?" Gizmo stated with a bit of irritation, his car going a bit faster than it should "You think you got all your little ideas about fun and leashes and all that drek figured out?"

The intake fan of his car turned on, even though it wasn't a hot day "I'm here because this is all I know. You get the decker that does all that techno drek, you get a mage like you that knows all the stuff, probs got born with a spoon up your hoop. Thinks life's a big game cause Ghost fragging forbid you don't feel happy."

"Well, sweetheart. I'm in this business because this is what I am. I'm a sociopathic soykaf addict that happens to be good at being a Shadowrunner. That's how I pay the bills. Not because I want to, but because I'm fragging good at it."

A small laugh escaped him as he spoke "I'm Gizmo. I grew up in the Barrens with a mom hopped on Narcoject and my dad hopped on Beetles. I was a wheelman before I could even jack off, and I was good at it. Eventually some corp headhunter found me, gave me my chrome, and made me work for KE. So that's what I'm doing."
 
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"Oh cry me a river tough guy. You think some tragic past means you have to be miserable and edgy? Yeah I had a silver spoon shoved up my ass, I had everything I wanted, you can even say I had everything that was. So think about that for a second, I had everything and yet here I am running the shadows like a lowly rat. You had nothing and I had everything, and yet here we FUCKING ARE! Equal and quirky! Mage and a Rigger! Fucking Shadowrunners!" She broke out into a laughter. "How easily you're riled up, and to think you thought I was going to be a problem on the field. Come on, Gizmo, I'll brew you a fresh cup of coffee, you'll love it if you drink soykaff all the time." She put on her heels, got out of the Van and called the elevator.

"You know I kinda like you. You don't take shit from no one. Not the Johnson, not some weird chick. I'll make sure you don't get riddled with bullets." With a wink she started fixing up her hair while waiting for the lift. Sure enough Gizmo was bound to be troublesome if she lets him speak in sticky situations. He had charm for sure, just of the street kind, the sort that gets you places when you need to show your teeth and your bark. Best of all he was wound up like a coil and ready to go. He had the smarts and the connections this was his run. "You're the pointman on this one Gizmo, I'll follow your lead."
 
He was silent for a long while, driving without speaking another word to her. Only after ten or so minutes did he actually respond

"You're here, because you like it."

The car revved slightly as he spoke slow and carefully "And I'm here because I'm good at it. And I'm going to have a stick up my ass because of it. Gonna be honest, I'm honestly kinda jealous. Cause I had drek, and you had it all."

A sigh went through the speakers "Figured, might as well. We're partners, so we gotta trust each other. Trusting someone means you know what's going on in their noggins"
 
The elevator ride up was a relatively short one; she didn't live on the Penthouse level and the lifts were state of the art. There was a mere handful of apartments on her floor meaning that each of them must have been fairly sizable. The door was reinforced, with a keypad lock; given a special coat of paint to make it appear as if made out of wood. The apartments had numbers above going from 1-5 but none had nameplates on them. There was a beige carpet along the hallway matching with the dull tan walls and dark wood pattern doors. Along the length of the walls were mostly stock photos of Seattle skyline or paintings of nature and mountain peaks; although the frames were nice looking. Of course the hallway was also adorned with security cameras, which meant little to the SIN-less.

Ariadne typed in the 6 digit code into the pad and after a click of the lock she opened the door wide entering and beckoning Gizmo to follow. She strode in placing her chopsticks in a bowl atop a coffee table near the entrance.
There was a coat hanger right beside the entrance and what appeared to be a small closet right next to it. The entrance itself was about a couple of meters in length and led right into the Living Room with plenty of space. The floor was adorned with shaggy white carpet covering 60% of the room from the centre. Instead of the wall facing out of the building there was reinforced glass and a door to the Balcony that was also connected to Main Bedroom. Opposite the Balcony door was the wall that had a massive trideo rig and number of other peripherals useful one wishes to throw parties. The couch and chairs were all made of synth-leather and aimed at the trid with a long coffee table in front. There was a bottle of wine atop the table, half empty, or half full depending on who you asked; with a glass beside it stained along the rim with bright red lipstick. Going from the entrance the Balcony was to the left, opposite it was likely the Bedroom door and to the right one would be able to enter the Dinning room and kitchen.

The Dinning room had a big fake wooden table, likely made of some synthetic fibres; adorned with a nice looking crimson red piece of cloth. A fancy cupboard of similar fake dark wood design held a number of fancy crystal and china. The sort of things that come out only for special occasion or remain there as decoration indefinitely. Dinning room had a modern looking hanging lights from the top, the lines holding the white orbs were barely visible under the current lighting and would be unnoticeable when the lights were on. Left from the entrance to the dinning room was the kitchen; modern looking pure white and glistening, except for a number of cup stains on the counter and some spilled particulates. Opposite the Kitchen was something that used to be a Guest Room but now served as Ariadne's Lodge, as evidence by the protective wards inscribed upon the door and a faint odor coming out of the closed door.


Immediately upon putting away her chopsticks she beckoned to Gizmo and led him to the Kitchen where the Coffee pot was. She spilled the remaining dark liquid from the pot and set about making a fresh one. "This morning's batch, gotta make a new one because of the sediment. It's not pretty." She set out a pair of cups and turned on the pot after loading it up with freshly ground beans. "Once it's done feel free to pour yourself a cup, also there's milk and cream in the fridge, both soy and cow. Don't ask where I get it, the source is highly paranoid. Sugar's in that jar over there." She pointed towards a tiny jar that said Zuccero on it; it was filled with sugar cubes. "I'll take it black, no sugar, now I gotta go change, don't touch that door you're cybered up so your essence will be fried. If you want the bathroom it's the door over there without glowing runes on it."

She left towards her Bedroom where she had a walk in closet and a set of outfits fit for most if not all occasions right now, she needed something she would feel comfortable in but also something that Gizmo would be comfortable with. It was clear he despised the suit and file shtick. Which meant the street favorite jeans and leather jacket were up. She put on a maroon top, sleeveless; a pair of tattered jeans, strategically worn and torn; and a snazzy slick synth-leather jacket, with small shoulder-pads. She put on a pair of black synth-leather combat bots, took off her make up, applied some light red lipstick and fixed up her hair. She was the spitting image of a street-punk.
Sorta like this but with different hair
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When she returned to the Kitchen she posed in front of Gizmo with her new outfit. "This better, hotshot? Come on, pay the lady a compliment, you know that we love it." She said winking teasingly as she reached for her cup of coffee. "So, what's the plan? We can use the Living room trid to bring up a map if we need it and a friend had set me up with a secure Shadowland BBS connection if we need that as well. I'm all ears, boss." She leaned over the counter towards him suggestively circling the rim of her cup with the tip of a finger.